Amazon launches Black Friday Deals Store with 52 days of discounts

Amazon less than one day removed from Halloween has launched its Black Friday Deals Store. The annual assault on brick-and-mortar retailers runs now through December 22 (that’s 52 days for those keeping count).

Between now and then, Amazon says shoppers can expect discounts on tens of thousands of items with new deals arriving as often as every five minutes. Seasoned veterans, however, will tell you that the best deals will be reserved for Thanksgiving / Black Friday and Cyber Monday week.

Amazon has a few new features that shoppers will be able to take advantage of this shopping season.

Beginning November 15, shoppers with an iPhone can use a feature called Package X-Ray to see what’s inside a box that has been delivered without opening it. To do so, just scan the package’s barcode using the iPhone’s camera from within the Amazon shopping app and the contents will pop up on your screen.

Shoppers can also use their camera to search for items. For example, simply pointing the camera at a pair of boots will generate a list of similar items for purchase within the shopping app. And if you’re a Prime Member with an Alexa-equipped device, you’ll be privy to hundreds of deals reserved exclusively for voice shoppers.

Those in need of gift ideas may want to consult one of Amazon’s manygiftguides collectively filled with thousands of curated products across a variety of categories.

They have hundreds of Deals of the Day every day. Not sure how this is different or better. They have so many that I'll never know what 90% of them are. I'd prefer a list of solid deals across various categories that I could scan, find what I want and set a reminder for the sale time.

"Beginning November 15, shoppers with an iPhone can use a feature called Package X-Ray to see what’s inside a box that has been delivered without opening it. To do so, just scan the package’s barcode using the iPhone’s camera from within the Amazon shopping app and the contents will pop up on your screen."

Why does stupid gimmicky crap like this have to be exclusive to Apple owners? Does Tim Cook really give that good of a BJ that Jeff Bezos would agree to this sort of thing? Or did his recent loss of over $3 Billion influence the decision? Honestly half the fun with ordering junk of Amazon is tearing open the box to see what's inside, although I generally know what it is before I even get home. You can after all track you package and see when it was delivered...